As presented by Richard C. Baker, GBW Standards, Denver, CO 2003

Introduction:

During his introduction, Richard Baker 1 described how, while
Deputy Head of the Conservation Bindery of the Johns Hopkins University Library,
he was introduced to the springback binding by John Dean 2.
The manual Dean referred to, and which still has the best description of the
technique is Alexander Vaughan’s Modern Bookbinding, which in Section
II, Stationery Binding provides step-by-step instructions for the springback.
The book has recently been reprinted and is readily available.

The historical development of the springback, originally patented in Great Britain
in 1799 by John and Joseph Williams 3, is described in Bernard
Middleton's History of English Craft Bookbinding, but it does not detail the
steps required to complete a binding. The springback also has a long history
in the German binding tradition, where it continues to see regular use, especially
for guestbooks.

As a style, the springback is firmly rooted in the 'trade' binding tradition.
The springback's robustness, and ability to lie flat and open for extended periods
of time without stressing the spine unduly make the structure ideal for use
as account and record books. These same qualities also make it suitable for
guestbooks, lectern Bibles, and similarly used books. Regrettably the structure
has not seen much use on fine bindings or in contemporary book art, especially
as the structure would be a suitable platform for many elements of design bindings.
Its thick boards would provide a canvas for more sculptural or inset designs.
With some minor modification it could also serve as a means of presenting pop-up
constructions.

The mechanics of the springback are quite intriguing. In Bookbinding and the
Conservation of Books: A dictionary of descriptive terminology, Don Etherington
and Matt Roberts describe the workings of the style as follows:

“... are rounded but not backed, having instead a spring-back, which,
in conjunction with the levers, causes the spine of the book to "spring"
up when the book is opened, thus giving full access to the gutter of the opposing
pages.”

In the trade, this spring could be made of molded heavy cardboard or even metal.
Originally covered in leather with elaborate lacing (very well described in
Vaughan), it was also covered in heavy duck or canvas.

What follows are the steps required to complete a springback as demonstrated
by Baker.

Description of Technique:

Endsheets:

To make the endsheet signatures for the springback cut four folded sheets
slightly larger than the trim size. Next, place two folded sheets fold-to-fold
on the bench with a 1mm gap. A strip of cloth approximately three inches wide
is glued and placed centered over the gap on the folded sheets. This cloth is
the beginning of the lever that will work against the spring. Next, glue decorated
paper sheets to the folios leaving a narrow strip of the cloth visible. Place
in press between boards to dry. Repeat for other endsheet. When dry, fold so
that the decorated paper and cloth hinge are on the inside, and trim to text
size. Vaughan [pg. 107] recommends “strengthening” the endsheets
by gluing a strip of linen to the outside of the endsheets. This will not be
visible later on because the plain flyleaf and first text leaf will be glued
together.

Sewing:

Mark up for sewing on four tapes and, using a jig, pre-punch holes. The tapes
should be the width of the spine plus half the width of the text. Endsheets
should be sewn using colored thread to match (or contrast) the cloth joint.
After the first signature tie on plain thread until the last signature when
one switches back to the colored thread. All knots go on the outside of the
spine.

Gluing-up, Rounding, Lining the Spine:

After sewing, glue up the spine. The adhesive should be applied evenly and
rubbed with a folder to ensure that the signatures are well adhered to each
other. This step is highly critical, and if done improperly will cause the binding
to fail! When set, glue out the first text leaf and put down the plain flyleaf.
Repeat on other side and nip in press.

This step increases the strength and bond between the endleaves and the text.
As account books were meant to be written in across the gutter, it also “hides”
the first leaf, and ensures that one starts on the first full two page spread.

Trim the edges on three sides in a guillotine and round the spine. As the springback
is not backed, the round tends to be more pronounced to absorb the swell created
by the thread. Ideally the operations of gluing up the spine, and trimming the
text should occur in quick succession, so that the text can be rounded before
the glue gets too hard, making rounding more difficult. If this occurs, the
spine can be lightly dampened with water/alcohol to soften prior to rounding.

When dry, glue a stiff card (folder stock) to the waste sheet lining up the
edge of the card with the spine of the book. Card should be 20pt, cut to the
height of the text by a ¼ of the width of the text. For increased stiffness,
the grain direction of the card can run perpendicular to the spine, a rare occurrence
in binding.

Next, glue the tapes onto the card, glue out the remainder of the waste sheet
and fold over to spine edge. Rub down well and cut or tear off the excess, 1
cm from the edge of the stiff card.

Spine linings are made of leather strips the same color as the covering leather.
Leather should be cut the length and width of the spine and one of the cards.
Edge-pare the leather lightly along the edges. Paste the leather, centered on
the spine, and extending on to the stiffened card flaps, applying additional
paste to the outside to act as a lubricant for the folder during rubbing down.
Let dry completely between boards making sure the book is in its proper shape.

If needed, trim off leather flush with the ends of the books. Next, cut the
stiffened flaps on an angle at the ends and edge-pare all three edges with a
paring knife.

Make semi-circular cut with knife through the knife at each end of the stiffened
flap, being careful not to cut through the sewing. DO NOT cut straight through,
but angle the blade so that the cut allows the end of the flap to move toward
the book and the center of the flap moves away.

Making the boards
The springback binding style makes use of split boards. These are made up of
a binders board and 20pt card stock with are glued together on 2/3’s of
the width, with the 1/3 along the spine left unglued. This is so that the flaps
can later be inserted into the board.

Making the Spring:

The spring is the part which gives this binding its name and which sets it
apart from all other bindings styles.

To make the spring, cut a strip of 20pt card stock to the length of the book
plus 5cm by the width of the spine plus 1 ~1.5cm. For larger books, this can
be increased. Cut a strip of 80lb text weight paper to the same length and twice
the width of the card stock plus 2cm. Glue out the paper with PVA, center on
the card stock, glue out again, wipe excess glue from edges, fold paper over
and nip in press.

While still damp, roll the spring around a piece of pipe or dowel the same
diameter (or slightly smaller) than the thickness of the book at the foredge
using a piece of kraft paper to wrap it tightly around the tube. The overlap
should be on the inside of the spring for aesthetic reasons. Let dry for approximately
15-20 minutes, and remove. Bend the edges into a “C” shape so that
the spring “grips” the spine of the book. If the spring is too loose
or too tight, make a new spring as the book will not function otherwise. Hold
the spring in shape with bricks until dry.

To attach the spring to the text block, adhere a strip of robust bookcloth ("C"
cloth or linen work well) to the inside of the spring. The length of this strip
is approximately 2/3's the height by the width of the spine plus 10cm."
(Attach the spring to the spine by sliding it in place and gluing the C cloth
flaps to the "levers."

Making and Attaching the Boards:

Cut boards to size and round the foredge corners. As the boards for this style
tend to be thicker, the squares should be sized accordingly. The groove between
the edge of the spring and the board should equal at least the twice the thickness
of the board to accommodate the covering leather. If applying bands, the groove
will need to be wider, otherwise the boards will jam and the book will not open
properly. Mark the groove with a pencil.

Nick the corners of the boards by the spine lightly. Apply glue to the inside
of the split in the board and insert only the center part of the flap up to
the pencil marks. Leave the groove at least as wide as the boards are thick;
extra for banded work), insert a “fence” of card stock slightly
larger than the boards and nip in the press.

Cut the ends of the spring so that they are slightly rounded (like a crescent
moon). With a paring knife, edge pare them slightly, and hammer over to form
headcaps. Add leather strips to create false raised bands, if desired.

Covering:

Cut and edge-pare the leather for the spine and corners. Springbacks were
subjected to very heavy use and the leather was edge-pared only to retain maximum
strength.

Paste out the leather for the corners first, and apply. As the corners are
proportionately rounded, pleated turn-ins work best.

Next, lightly dampen the ends of the spring. Paste out the leather and spine,
also brushing paste into the groove. Apply the spine leather and turn in at
the head and tail. Place brass or plexi rods, wooden dowels or knitting needles
of the appropriate thickness into the groove and press for 10-15 minutes to
secure the leather. Remove from the press and tie a cord around the groove to
aid in forming the head caps. Hammer over the head caps, and form so that leather
takes on a 45° as in the quarter leather library style.

If making a full leather binding, edge-pare and paste out the leather, apply
and turn in. Insert rods or dowels into the groove, and put in press for 10-15
minutes. Form the headcaps so that the leather takes on a 45° angle as in
the quarter leather library style.

Let dry between boards and under a weight.

Trim-out and fill-in covers with appropriate thickness of material. Prepare
the paper or cloth for sides and apply. Open the covers, glue down the tabs
from the stiffened flap, insert fences and put in press. Next trim out insides
of the covers and fill-in as appropriate. Finally put down the endsheets, insert
fences and press.

Selected Bibliography:

Description of the style:

Don Etherington and Matt Roberts. Bookbinding and the Conservation
of Books: A dictionary of descriptive terminology. Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1982.

Middleton, Bernard C. (1996) A History of English Craft Bookbinding,
New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press.

1: Richard Baker has been doing hand bookbinding and
book and paper conservation for more than 25 years. After starting as a student
of Bill Anthony’s in Chicago, he worked for several institutions including
the American Antiquarian Society and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Since 1989, he has had a private studio in St. Louis where he has taught craft
classes in bookbinding for the past twelve years. Richard served two terms
as president of the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers and has
been active in the book arts community wherever he has lived. His website
is at <http://www.richardcbaker.com/>

2: John Dean began binding at the age of fifteen as
an apprentice in Manchester, England, and worked his way through the trade
and became head of the conservation bindery at the Manchester Research Library
before emigrating to the U.S. where he led the bindery at the Newberry Library
in Chicago. He established the Conservation Program at Johns Hopkins, which
at that time also had a certified 5 year apprenticeship program based on that
of the City and Guilds of London Institute. Until his retirement in 2003,
Dean was Director of the Department of Conservation and Preservation at Cornell
University and he continues to work at Cornell as Conservation Librarian.
It was as a work-study student in the Conservation Program at Johns Hopkins
that the author was introduced to and encouraged to pursue a career in conservation
and the book arts.

Contributor's Note:

Peter Verheyen is Conservation Librarian at the Syracuse University
Library. Primary training was through formal apprenticeship at the Kunstbuchbinderei
D. Klein in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and study at both the Centro del bel Libro
in Ascona and the Folger Shakespeare Library. He has worked with William Minter
in Chicago and at the Yale and Cornell University Libraries. His work has been
exhibited widely with the Guild of Book Workers and in other exhibits in the
US and abroad. Teaching activities have included ongoing classes and workshops
on specific topics. He is also past exhibitions and publicity chair for the
Guild of Book Workers. In 1994, he founded Book_Arts-L and the Book Arts Web
at <http//www.philobiblon.com>. For more information see his curriculum
vitae.